Distressed Spring Artwork Tutorial.

The day the LORD created HOPE
was probably the same day
He created SPRING.

I love that!
Let’s make some artwork based on it!

Grab a piece of wood. In this case, I used 1′ x 2′ scrap of 1/4″ plywood.

Grab a paintbrush and some good white primer. ( I like Kilz.)

Put 2 generous coats on.

Once your primed board has dried, you’re ready to put on your letters. I used my Cricut to cut out the letters for the Spring quotation that I chose. You could also use pre-cut adhesive letters.

(Tip Of The Day: You DO know you can use regular old household contact paper/shelf-liner instead of the expensive vinyl, right…? And that it comes in black…?)

So using some of the contact paper I had on hand, I cut out my letters and kind of eyeballed where I wanted them to go. I just played around with the spacing until it worked for me.

Once you know where they’re going, peel off the backing and stick them down on the board.

Rub them on with your finger until you get a good adhesion, then take your primer and put another thin coat over the top of the letters. (This ensures that you’ve got a good seal over the letters)

Once dry, take the paint color of your choice and paint the entire board. In this case, I chose a Robin Egg blue.

When your color base coat is dry, paint your bird (or leaves, flowers, bunny, whatever…) onto the board. I did this free-hand (and boy does it show) but you could use a stencil too.

You will be painting the bird (or whatever) over the top of your letters. While the bird’s paint is still wet, start pulling off the letters under the bird. If you let the paint dry, it winds up pulling off the blue base color as well and you want the edges of the letters to be as crisp as possible.

See? Sometimes it pulls up anyway.

No worries. Once I’m done I will take a smaller paintbrush and touch up the black paint. (Possibly a Sharpie if it needs to be really detailed.)
Let it dry overnight.

Toss it on the floor of your garage.

Dig around on your husband’s workbench for an orbital sander because yours is buried somewhere on Your side of the garage under arts and craft supplies, holiday decor and other thrift items you bought but haven’t put away properly or finished working on because you have decorating A.D.D. and. Oh yeah….

Sand it really well.

It’s OK to distress it really heavily. I would have done more, but I worried the script I chose wouldn’t stand out enough if I kept going.

Mix a few drops of a pearl or silver acrylic paint with some water and lightly brush it over the artwork. (Think: brushing egg on a pie crust. It just finishes it off.)

Try to figure out where you’re going to put it since you have the asymmetrical mantel from hell.

This looks so professional that it could be in PB or Ballard. Thanks for the very easy and well written instructions and pictures.Wonderful!!!!! I would love to make a big board for 1 wall that needs something other than a picture.Thanks!!! What a great and inspiring stop.Yvonne

I’m really sorry if this posts about 12 times because for some reason, it keeps disappearing (or “redirecting” to nowhere), but just wanted to say that I’m so glad you found my blog so I could find yours! This artwork is AMAZING! I seriously thought someone made the quote in Photoshop and cannot believe you made it – very impressive! : )

Ohh my gosh…you are just full of great spring project ideas, my friend! I was in awe of your yard chandelier and know this…this pretty spring plaque! I love this saying too! It’s gorgeous, my friend! Thanks for sharing it with us! It certainly is looking springy at your place…just beautiful!

You gave such a good explanation of the process that I’m fairly certain I could tackle it. I just realized that I may need to get a manicure before I attempt to post a how-to at Brambly(your hands look so nice in the photos).Thank you for the inspiration. Have a terrific evening!

I LoVE LoVe LoVe this. I wish I could free hand that well. I have tried to free hand birds (which seem easy) but mine always look 9 months pregnant. I am your newest follower and I would love a visit from you over at fineandhandy.blogspot.com.

It turned out beautifully!! I would love it if you would link this up to my Marvelous Mess party. Each party I pick one project to feature on my sidebar for a week!! Here is the link: http://bit.ly/i5BHt8

Great project! Thank you so much for linking this creative project up to Saturday Spotlight hosted by SAS Interiors and Green Door Designs. I loved your project so much that it was my pick of the week. Please grab the ‘I’ve Been Featured’ button the right sidebar of http://www.sasinteriors.net. Can’t wait to see more of your amazing creations!

So talented! Thank you for linking up to my K.I.S.S. blog bash last week. This weeks blog bash is in full swing again!! If you haven’t already please be sure & link up more of your creativity, I look forward to seeing all your great ideas. 🙂

What a completely awesome tutorial! I’ve been dreaming of creating my own similar art projects, but thought I might have to come up with some kind of screen printing system. I SOOOO have to get a cutting machine…been wanting one a long time! Thanks for sharing 🙂 Lisa

OMGoodness! That is such a beautiful art project… I can already see ideas for “Personalized Christmas Present Projects” cooking in my brain… 🙂 Thank you so very much for sharing this. My husband recently got me a Silhouette Cameo for my Birthday & I’m just now starting to use it… I can picture eventually “selling” my work.So, I have this CHRISTMAS Image of a pretty tree and inspirational wording. would I put in “the negative” (outer image) instead of placing the wording?

Thanks so much for the “Contact Paper” tip… YeeHa! I know I have a bunch from our old house that was destined for the Donation Box… Yeah, for repurposing & saving Money!!!Question? – What type of paint did you use for the blue? Acrylic? You mentioned that the white was primer. Does that mean that you used Kilz? Sorry, I’m really new at this….

Hey there, KM_Designs. Your email isn’t enabled, so I hope you see this. The blue is just acrylic paint, but you could use spray paint as well. (That would make the letters a bit more crisp and clean, actually.) If you want to make the works look like the are “over” an image, you put them on the board first, then paint your image over the top of them. When you remove the letters, they’ll look like they’re written on the Christmas tree. Hope that helps.

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